Guardians of the 12 Gates
by Marissa Witcher
Summary: Murder, mystery, a bit of Otherkin. Follow Nika Savage as she uncovers the hidden truth to it all. Note I don't own Lost Girls, but the characters represented in my story are my own.


**Prologue **

It was dark and grimy. The place smelled of rot and decay. Grime covered her face and hair. No light penetrated this place. She moved the tiniest of bits and heard the chain that was attached to the metal collar around her neck clink_. How long was I down here for? How many days had passed?_ Those thoughts circled through her head. Fear, in its purist form rose up inside her. It was the kind that boarded on panic. A scream swelled up in her throat. The girl pushed it back down.

_Don't show fear, don't show panic. Most of all, don't make a sound. Instead focus on something else. Like how did I get here?_ The captured girl instructed herself. If she could remember what happened, then maybe she could answer her own questions.

The last memory she had was going home from class at the local college. It was a bright day. She just got out of class and was saying goodbye to a couple class mates. The day was hot and stuffy. A typical spring day that was hinging on summer. She was wearing jeans and a flower print tank top. She had sunglasses on. Her book bag was carelessly tossed over one shoulder. Her black hair was up in a ponytail. The last memory the girl had was walking to her car. Then someone, or something, grabbed her from behind, and then… nothing. Just waking up here in this dark place where no light penetrated.

The girl gingerly assessed her own body. She was naked. Grime covered her body, her face, and her hair. Her hair, it was down and in clumps around her face. She gingerly reached out and touched the collar. Cold metal greeted her questing fingers. She gingerly felt for the chain that connected to the collar. They were big, but not very heavy. She tried to trace the chains to the source but found out that she could not move her arms very far.

Her hands were cuffed and chained to her feet as well. This time she couldn't stop the panic and the screaming once again welled up inside her. It was a

Suddenly a bright light engulfed the room the same time the captive heard a door open somewhere. The creaking of stairs as whoever it was took them told her that they were made of wood. The footsteps sounded heavy. They stopped in front of her. She slowly looked up and faced a demon.

"Oh good, you're a wake." A muffled voice announced. The demon launched itself at her, violently and brutally raping her. He covered her mouth with a big hand, so she couldn't scream as he thrust inside her. In those moments, the girl wished that she was dead. Also, in those moments, she thought that she could hear chanting.

**Chapter One**

Nika set out two glasses of sweet tea on her glass patio table in the back yard. She sat down and lit a cigarette as she watched her dog Tiny sniff around and do his business. It was a quiet day, the weather channel called for sunshine and heat. Thank the gods that there was no humidity.

Nika's eyes strayed to the small woods near her home. There was a river back there that was hidden from sight due to the density of the trees and the overgrown brush. On a good day, you could smell the scent of water as it was carried on the wind. Today was not one of those days. Hot, but no wind.

Nika loved living here in the quiet by the woods. On good days, she'd take her dog for a hike around the woods, on the trails that snaked around back there.

"The gate fence is open." She called out as she sat down. She rested her feet upon the glass patio table. Momma G would have had a fit if she saw the big combat boots on the table. "Tables are meant for glasses, not asses." She'd lecture Nika. Nika Savage was wearing her big combat boots, black pants, and despite the heat, a form fitting, long sleeve T-shirt. To top it off, her hair was up in a French braid, the sides of her head shaved down to the scalp.

The gate creaked opened, and her old partner on the force walked into sight. Nika hadn't seen him in almost two years, but not much had changed. He was wearing cowboy boots and blue jeans. A button up shirt all the way to the collar and wearing a cowboy hat to boot. His brown hair curled around the edges of the hat. His grey eyes were grim, lacking the warmth of the smile he had on display.

Nika inhaled another drag before she returned the smile. She knew that he didn't come out here for a personal call. As if on cue, Tiny gave a bark and ran excitedly towards Jacob. He licked his hand in a welcoming gesture and sauntered off back to whatever doggy business he was doing.

"Oh, look it there, you set out a second glass of sweet tea for me." Jacob said as he sat down in the other lawn chair. Only then did she notice he was holding onto a manila folder as if he wanted to ward whatever evil came stalking his heels.

"Not interested." Nika said right away. Jacob smiled a knowing smile.

"What, not even interested to hear what it's about?" He asked.

"No." Nika answered. Jacob and Nika worked together from the time she became a detective at twenty to the time she quit the force at twenty-eight. He knew the circumstances as to why she left the force. In her mind, he should already know not to bug her anymore about cases.

"Please Nika." Jacob pleaded. "This is two missing person cases of two, young, college girls. One went missing a week ago and the second three days ago. I need your help finding them before it is too late."

Nika took another drag off her cigarette and snubbed it out. "Let me guess, you want my help in finding them, so you can go home and be the big hero to your neighbors and family members." She sneered at him.

"The captain is willing to bring you on as an informant or expert or whatever, and that means he'll pay you." Jacob shot back.

"How much?" Nika asked. Money was money, and it was a little tight. Nika did some business here and there for people to get buy. But she would never turn down money wherever it came from.

Jacob shrugged, meaning he wasn't privy to such information. After a moment of consideration, Nika grabbed the folder and inspected the contents. The only things in it were two pictures. One of a Caucasian woman, young, in her early twenties, and one of an Asian woman. Young as well. As her eyes settled on the white woman, she sucked in her breath audibly.

"I've seen the white girl around. She's an Undergrounder." Nika stated flatly. Under grounders was what people referred to the paranormal creatures and misfits. Technically Nika Savage belonged to this group as well, but she never considered to be fully a member. Being a physic was barely on the scale in her mind.

"Are you sure?" Jacob's voice was muffled, like he was talking a long way off. The reason being was that Nika had already opened her mind's eye and was busy trying to locate the girl. If she had a mirror, and was able to look, she'd have seen that her eyes went white.

"He feels change, as in a chrysalis, like a gate about to be open." Nika explained how she felt. Then she was pivoted into last week through the eyes of the abductor. She saw the girl smiling, walking in a parking lot. The details were hazy at first, then became clearer. It was the college parking lot. Her blond hair was blowing in the wind, her blue eyes were alive with life. Nika realized that she was sitting in a car, watching. Her hands resting on the steering wheel belonged to that of a man. A hint of a tattoo showed. The rest was obscured by the shirt sleeve.

Lust shot through Nika. Lust that belonged to the abductor. It wasn't wholly sexual in nature. It was more primal, darker than that.

"The person who abducted the first girl lusted for her. But not all sexual. Not entirely. He felt that he was changing. Like when a centipede changes to a butterfly. He needed her for his metamorphosis. A catalyst for it at any rate." The vision broke down a bit, got distorted. This happened from time to time. Too much emotion from the person Nika was channeling mixed with her own caused it.

When the vision cleared again, the scene had changed. The abductor was panicking. She could sense that he was breathing rapidly. She saw the girl dead underneath her, and she was naked.

"This wasn't supposed to happen!" Nikka/the abductor screamed. "Hide, I have to hide her! Where? This wasn't supposed to happen! I was supposed to change! They said so! Shit! Where to hide her? I screwed up! Man!"

Nika snapped her eyes open, and practically lunged for a cigarette. She lit it with a shaky hand, and deeply inhaled the smoke. Nika could feel the early summer heat on her own body again. She heard Tiny chewing on something in the yard, can almost hear the ice melt in her untouched iced tea. She looked over to Jacob, who was practically hanging off his lawn chair.

"He killed the first missing girl." She said after she took a deep, calming breath. "It looked like he raped her. He got scared. Had to hide the body. I believe if you look at the city dump, that's where you will find the body." Jacob hung his head a bit. They were too late to find her.

"Come with me then and help me find her please?" Jacob asked.

The city dump was what you'd come to expect a big landfill to look like. Nika lived half an hour from the city of Harmony, nearer the mountains and the lake. The dump was located on the opposite side heading out of town. In total, it took Jacob and Nika about an hour to arrive.

As soon as Nika's combat boots touched the gravel, and she smelled the foul stench of the dump, she knew she wasn't wrong. The feeling of sadness, of a life cut short invaded her thoughts, coming to overpower her.

"I wonder if Tito works here still?" Niko wondered aloud. Jacob shot her a look. Tito was another Undergrounder. A Verbish to be more precise. If one could picture a rat and a pig mixed together, you got what a Verbish looked and acted like. That was, if you could convince one of them to drop their glamour even for a moment. Most Undergrounders were extremely guarded on what their real faces looked like.

It really wasn't their fault. The Council decided almost thirty years ago to come out of the closet, so to speak. It wasn't well received at first. Bigotry and people's phobias played a big role in out casting the nonhumans. They coined the term "Undergrounders" because after the initial coming out, the nonhumans were reluctant to show their faces.

"I'm around." Tito's high-pitched voice floated to them before he came into view. He was squat and heavy set with a face that resembled that of a rat. Almost as if he got lazy with his glamour. His black hair was patchy and unkempt, and his beady brown eyes kept nervously darting around. Never to rest on anything for long.

Nika felt a pull coming from the west side of the dump. She started in that direction. Tito and Josh followed behind her. She stopped at an obscure looking pile of trash. She knew that this is where the victim's resting place was because the feelings in her grew stronger. Although the victim wasn't in a state of rest.

Nika knelt and started digging through the trash. Tito let out a squeal of joy and joined in. It didn't take long to find the body. Dead, blue eyes stared up at the sky, the mouth open and twisted into almost a grimace. Although no one there would blame the poor girl, except maybe Tito. The place did reek after all.

Handprints around the victim's neck suggested she died from strangulation. Although Nika was not a coroner and so her guess was as good as anyone else's. The girl was completely naked. It took them all a moment to realize what they were seeing.

"Those are Wyrd marks!" Tito hissed close to Nika's ear. He didn't fully trust Jacob. Jacob was human through and through. Him and his kind were the scary story the Undergrounders were told when they were children.

"You better be good or else the evil humans with their pitchforks and fire will get you!"

For the second time that day, Nika sucked in her breath in astonishment. Wyrd marks was an ancient form of writing. The Undergrounders used to use them during the Dark Ages. The only writing that came close to them were the Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Scattered among the Wyrd marks were also Satanic symbols. Nika grabbed her phone and took pictures. The only one who would know how to begin reading them would either be Magnus, or Momma B.

"Looks like our boy might have been in a cult of some type." Josh finally said, kneeling to take a closer look. "I'm going to have to call this in and see if an expert down at the precinct could tell me what exactly we're dealing with."

**Chapter Two**

The Council was some behind closed doors politically ran group. Up to thirty years ago, not one Undergrounder knew they ran things. Seemingly one day, they showed up on camera and told the world that what goes bump in the night was real. What wasn't a surprise was that most these individuals were in some type of government. From the lowest city council member up to Congress.

At first, humans met this revelation with incredulity. The consensus for how the world spun was shaken up down. Some humans took it with good news. After all, what's more exciting to know that goblins and faeries and all manner of creatures are real? Others were not so open in their thoughts.

They grew to hate the nonhumans. Otherkin is the formal name for them. And "other" was right. "If it you ain't human, you ain't shit" became the slogan behind one group of humans. These humans, which ironically boasted members from all walks of life, shut out the Otherkins. If you were an Otherkin, you weren't allowed in their businesses. They even tried making it illegal for the Otherkins to be outside in public during certain hours.

Obviously, one shouldn't have to point out that the Supreme Court ruled this as racist and against the Constitution. The sad part was the backlash. This hate group decided to torch a bus full of Otherkin. Women, children, infants, the infirm, were packed into this bus by gun point, made to sit in the seats. And then they burned it. Thirty-seven souls perished. The youngest being six months old.

The law was harsh to the six men who were behind it. They were strung up in the middle of town. The first hanging brought back in a couple hundred years. But the damage was done, there was a universal agreement around the country, and around the world. That was when the Otherkin hid behind their magics and their glamour. They started passing as humans once again. And the term, "Undergrounders" were coined.

However, there was some good that came out of the revelation that Otherkin did exist. A group of rag tag scientists, psychologists, archeologists all got together and funded a think tank. They went out and interviewed many of the Otherkin. This was done before the torching of the bus mind you. So often they were met with people who wanted to share their knowledge.

Slowly, a better understanding started to form. The Otherkin were around since the beginning. Some of the biologists in this group theorize that they even procreated with humans sometime down the evolutionary chain. This hasn't been proven yet though. There are some cross relationships between humans and Otherkin, but it seems like there can be no offspring between the two.

Ancient civilizations used to worship the Otherkin. The oldest known people that was obvious at it were the ancient Egyptians. The pantheon of Greek gods? Most likely Otherkin. It wasn't until the Dark Ages that Otherkin were forgotten to time. Asked why that is though, most of them don't know. Some vague references to King Arthur and Camelot, but nothing concrete.

Then the burning of the bus happened, and the Otherkin went underground, refusing to come out and talk. A distinct line had been crossed. Safety was in obscurity, and obscurity was safety. No one could harm you if you blended in. No matter how the government dealt with the hate crime, the Otherkin weren't going to come back out of the shadows completely.

Although, there was niche groups and hangouts where humans and the Undergrounders hung out and did their business. Businesses that offered protections to the nonhumans were booming. Usually the best ones were ran by the Undergrounders themselves, enforcing their strict rules using their own magic, or lacking that, their bouncers.

This is the type of place Nika Savage went to after her little field trip to the dump. She always hated finding out that she was to late to save the victim. She thanked whatever gods were listening to her about not having to tell the family.

She did channel the second girl. All she got was feeling like she was in the dark and a suffocating fear in the back of her throat. That was a good sign. It meant that the second girl was alive.

As soon as Jacob dropped her back off at her house, she geared it for The Underground. It was a bar in town. A bar where if you were human, you had a chance to rub elbows with the nonhumans. And if you were an Undergrounder, it was a place where you could just sit and relax without having to hide behind a façade.

At that time though, the place was mostly dead, with just a couple alcoholics wetting their whistles. But what would you expect? The fun happened at night. The owner, Magnus, went cheap on the décor and it showed. It looked like a typical bar/nightclub. Some country music was playing in the corner on an old jute box.

"Nika as I live and breathe." Speaking of the devil, Magnus so happened to walk up to the corner booth where Nika was having a go at trying to drown out what she saw with a few stiff ones.

Magnus, who looked like a devil with horns and a red tint to his skin, wasn't one to be trifled with. He as at least a hundred years old, and powerful. His pointed chin boasted a nice-looking goatee, and when he smiled, his pointed teeth were very prominent. He even had a tail to go with his looks.

Magnus was the very few that never needed to use glamour. He got famous when the Undergrounders first came out just because he looked like Satan. If Satan was real, then Jesus was real. It made the Christians very happy at first.

But then they turned on him, realizing if he was Satan, which he wasn't, then that means he was evil. Real evil existed. A group of fanaticals got drunk and decided to try and string Magnus up. That was when the world realized that he was strong in his own magic.

Torment magic is what he dealt in. He could reveal all your sins, all the secret dirty things you hide from the world to you. It could drive a person insane depending on the level of evil that was in their own souls. And that was the last time anyone tried to harm him.

"Magnus, my old buddy." Nika laughed a little bit, leaning on her head in her hand. "Tell me, do you have cloven hooves to go with your tail? That would complete the look you know."

"Well, if you allowed me the pleasure of your bed even for a night, I'd show you if they were cloven or not." He didn't miss a beat as he slid into the opposite booth. Somehow his frame seemed to swallow the space. It would almost seem like he didn't have room. But somehow, he belied that trick of the light by seeming to look at ease in the small space.

"So, I found a body at the dump." Nika looked at the rest of her whisky glass. "And do you know who it was?" She eyed Magnus. Some might think him good looking, with his close-cropped hair and his threaded eyebrows. But Nika always felt the danger coming off him in waves. It would hamper any feelings she would have had otherwise.

"Seeing as how it was the first I heard of it, no." Magnus looked curious at the news.

"She was an Undergrounder. I seen her a few times in the Below reading people's fortunes." Nika drunkenly stabbed her finger at Magnus. He drew in his breath.

"Shit Nika, who did it?" He asked.

"Hell if I know. The body is still being examined and the identity determined." She shrugged.

"Didn't you channel her? Wasn't that how you found her?" Magnus deduced.

"Not her, her abductor. And before you ask, I don't know if he was human or not." She paused to drink that last bit of whisky in the glass. The room swam for a moment, then righted itself.

"Although that's not the most interesting thing I found." Nika pulled out her phone and scrolled through her pictures. She handed it to Magnus. He stared at the phone for a long time.

"Those are Wyrd marks Nika." He finally said.

"Oh, I know." Nika agreed.

"So even if the killer wasn't an Undergrounder, he has ties to us somehow." His looked back up at Nika, his eyes swallowing the light.

"Can you read the marks?" Nika asked. Magnus seemed hesitant to answer. His eyes shifted back to the phone.

"I could if I saw the body more clearly. There are satanic looking marks too. Which doesn't make sense." Magnus answered carefully.

"I can call it in, see if maybe they will let you back in the mortuary and see what you can come up with." Nika said. "There's another girl Magnus. She's alive and I must find her. I believe she may be alive still. But for how long? I don't know."

"Shit Nika, yeah, I'll help how I can." Magnus agreed.

"First, I have to ask, do you know who the dead victim is" Nika asked.

"Yeah, her name is, was, Anita Clarke. I don't know exactly her power, but she was like you, she could pass without the use of glamour. I know that Momma B would know more. She seems like she knows more on the comings and goings with the younger crowd." Magnus answered.

"Then it looks like I am going to have to pay her a visit." Nika grimaced. "But first I think I have to sober up a bit." She laughed at this.

"Yeah, well you're not going home like that. Sorry Nika. You can come crash on my couch upstairs." Magnus grabbed her hand and helped her stand up.

"Yup, think I'll just do that." Nika answered, running a hand across the shaved part of her head. "Thanks Magnus, you're a true friend."

**Chapter 3**

_Pain lance through in every open knife wound her body. Janie, her lover, how could she be the killer? Red, she was seeing red. Had to get up, had to move, before Janie realized she wasn't dead. _

_ In a blink of an eye, Nika was outside. The night cool on her cuts, the early morning dew from the grass raising goosebumps on her exposed flesh. She stilled her breathing, focused on the here and now. It didn't matter how or why she got outside; the important part is that Janie hadn't realized it. _

_ Nika could hear sirens off in the distance. Someone must have heard and called the cops. Blackness encroached on the edges of her vision. Soon, it wouldn't matter if the police were coming. It may be too late. _

_Must move._ _Nika thought. She forced herself to get up. She felt lightheaded from the blood loss and fought to stay conscious. How many stab wounds? Nine or ten? _

_ "Nika baby, that was a nice trick you pulled." She heard Janie opening the door. Crap, she figured it out. Nika tried moving faster, needed to get moving. That was her only way. Yet, she was losing the battle of staying conscious. She heard footsteps somewhere close. _

_ "Peek a boo, I see you." Janie's laugh was close, so close. Nika knew that this was the moment. The moment that Janie would end her life and send her to the afterlife. Wherever that may be. _

_ Something welled up inside Nika. Something primal, something lost to the ages. It struggled to break bonds inside Nika, if only temporarily. A beast that would not be tamed. Nika heard screaming, and sensed a flash of light, then nothing. She too slipped off into darkness…_

Nika shook herself awake. She realized that she was having a nightmare about the past. It had been two years since that fateful night. Her lover, the one whom Nika would have done anything for, was the one that Nika and Jacob were looking for.

Her scars across her chest and back tingled. She grimaced and tried locking the memory away in the vault of her mind again. Some demons should stay locked up as far as she was concerned.

Nika was laying on a dark, leather couch that had seen some better days. A light blanket was tossed on her. She rubbed her eyes, trying to dig the sleep, and the hangover, out of them futilely.

"Oh God, how long have I been out for?" She asked aloud. There was no one in the cramped, dirty apartment. She had a feeling that this place belonged to Magnus. Which meant that she was above the bar.

Nika realized that her boots were taken off and carefully placed next to her on the floor. She smiled a bit. Magnus had a reputation, and has some shading dealings, but he was at heart a good guy. A pang of guilt washed over her. Nika should visit more often.

The reason why she didn't visit him, or any other Undergrounder for that matter, was because she felt like she didn't belong. Yeah sure, ever since she was a kid, she had some psychic abilities, but it wasn't like Magnus' abilities, or even Momma B's. But then again, Nika hadn't met someone who was as strong as the woman her took her in and raised her as her own.

Once Nika became old enough to live on her own, she kind of gave up the Undergrounder lifestyle. She stopped coming around, she even put human on every important document.

It wasn't until one case that the police department realized that she was in fact, not human. And since then, Nika couldn't really hide who and what she was. Now, she reveled in it.

After Janie took a butcher's knife to Nika ten times, Nika decided that was it. She was no longer a detective. The murderer lived with her, slept in the same bed as her, hell she even had sex with her. Some detective Nika made.

So instead, Nika got paid to tell poor, sad saps their future. She learned soon that most people coming to her only wanted to hear what they wanted to hear, so she never told them their true fortune.

Nika put on her combat boots and detangled her hair as best she could. The next step was to find Magnus and go down to the city morgue so he could look at the Wyrd marks on the victim.

Nika was never one to sit still and learn the old language from Momma B when she was a kid. Thinking that she'd never have need of it, she ignorantly pushed aside any offerings to learn. Now she had to rely on the very people who offered to teach her to figure out all this.

Time was wasting. Nika knew the longer it took for them to track down the killer, the greater the chance that the second victim was going to be murdered.

The apartment upstairs had a stairwell leading to the bar. Nika took those two at a time. She felt guilty for drinking herself into a stupor and wanted to make up for lost time.

When she got to into the bar, the karaoke machine was pumping out some heart break hotel stuff. It was more crowded than earlier. Humans wanting to rub elbows with the Undergrounders after a hard day of work. Magnus knew what he was doing when he made the bar.

Speaking of Magnus, he was busy pouring some blond woman a drink when Nika walked up. He gave her a smile and threw the bar towel over his shoulder in a knowing gesture.

"How's your head?" He asked. His red skin looked almost black in the lighting of the bar.

"It's ok I guess." Nika said. "Ready to go see about a body?" She asked coolly. She knew that she had to get permission for him to get access, so she pulled out her phone. Jacob was still in her contacts.

"Let's blow this popsicle stand." Magnus said, and left the bar area. Nika followed him, with her phone up to her ear.

Nika got permission from the captain as they got into Magnus' sleek Porsche. She had to snort when she saw the car. He just smiled at her and sat in the car. It had leather seating and a touch screen radio.

When they arrived at the morgue, it was a bit late. Darkness settled onto the world like a sigh. A lonely security officer was guarding the front place. Well, not really guarding it. More like keeping an eye out as he read Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. He let them through to the back room as soon as Nika showed him her ID.

The body was laying on the metal bench, a Y shaped incision cut into her. Her once blond hair was hanging lifeless under her. Her lips were blue as were her fingertips.

"Never thought a human was turned gray when they died." Magnus whistled. It was true. The body was gray. But what wasn't gray was the marks on her skin. They looked like someone branded her, the redness not quite gone.

Magnus walked over to the body and started inspecting it. Nika waited silently at the foot. She knew not to rush things, but she wanted to know exactly what was branded onto the poor girl. She wanted to find the other victim before she became this lifeless corpse.

"Well," Magnus began slowly. "These are definitely Wyrd Marks. Some though, seem like Satanic symbols put there to confuse anyone who could read them."

"And you can?" Nika asked.

"Yes, I can." Magnus confirmed. He gave one last, long look at the body and turned to Nika. "It's a phrase cut into her repeatedly. It says, throw open the gates of Avalon."

"Avalon? Like King Arthur and Camelot?" Nika asked.

"Yes, and that means that this is big. Bigger than you or me." Magnus stated flatly. "Want my advice? Leave this alone. No good can come out of it."

"Wait, I'm confused. How can King Arthur and Avalon be dangerous?" Nika asked. Magnus looked at her for what seemed like an eternity. It seemed like he was weighing his options. Finally, he sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"If you want that answer, your best bet is to go talk to Momma B." Magnus said. "Hell, she probably could tell you more on this poor girl than anyone. I've seen them as thick as thieves recently."

**Chapter 4**

Momma B was a recluse by nature. That's what she always said anyways. A Russian immigrant, she migrated back when you had to go through Ellis Island. She often talked about that cold, misty morning, and the hours she had to wait in line. As a little girl, it seemed all so big for her.

Now, she spent her days raising orphans and unwanted children. Nika was no exception. Although Momma B was always elusive about Nika's past, she had a good heart and loved her like her own.

Nika pulled up at the run-down little house on the outskirts of town. Memories flooded in, and a warm, loving feeling washed over her. Momma B may not be her birth mother, but Nika's love for her was that of a daughter.

Momma B opened the door before Nika could step up on the porch. An elderly woman engulfed the doorway. Lines ran around Momma B's face, reminding Nika of a spider's web. Her gray hair was tied up and wrapped around a scarf.

"Nika, moya doch, it's been too long!" Momma B may have been in the United States since she was a little girl, but her English was still heavily accented. She welcomed Nika with a loving embrace. "Why don't you come see your momma anymore? And at such a late hour? What is this child? Why worries you so? Come in, come in. I'll heat up some dinner I put away from earlier." Brooking no argument, Momma B ushered Nika into the house. Cramped, with faded furniture that matched the faded wallpaper, the house still oozed love.

"I hope it's not too late Momma." Nika said as she was ushered to the kitchen. She sat down on a rickety oak chair that had seen better days. She remembered as a child she used to rock from side to side while imagining the chair would break. The noise usually drove Momma up the chimney.

"For you Nika? Never! After what that horrible suka did to you, I hadn't seen you in what seemed like ages." Momma waved a hand. "Some bimbo come and stab my darling. Huh well I'd have shown her what true fear was." In that instant, Momma glowed. She was a Babayka Otherkin.

Babayka were once thought to steal children out of their beds, but that was not true. They raised the forgotten ones, the ones tossed out and left behind unwanted. And once they got the child, they loved them fiercely. If they even thought that their adopted children were mistreated, hell followed after them.

"Momma, she's behind bars where she belongs." Nika said as she rubbed her shoulder. "I came on business though. I'm sorry, maybe next time I can come at a more hospitable time." Momma B silenced her with a wave of her hand as she placed a warmed-up bowl of Solyanka in front of her.

"You are like a will o the wisp. You come and you go. It matters not the time." Momma B stated warmly. "Now child, tell me what brings you back?" She sat down beside Nika with a cup of tea in her hands.

Nika pulled out the pictures she printed off of the victim and slowly gave them over to Momma. Momma gasped and grabbed them. Her hands were shaking as she shuffled through the pictures.

"Moya doch!" Was all Momma said. Nika watched her for a moment. Momma B was always calm no matter what. She remembered waking up in the hospital bed after her lover tried killing her to see Momma sitting beside her. That didn't even rattle her. She just gave a laugh and teased about how hard it was to kill her little Nika.

"Magnus said that you and her were thick as thieves." Nika said flatly. "Care to explain that?" Momma snapped her head over to Nika as soon as Magnus' name was uttered.

"You stay away from him Nika! He is not a good man! And stay away from this as well." Momma became stern. "Yes, I knew her. I only say this because you won't give it up. But please Nika, please leave this alone."

"Do you know what it says?" Nika pressed her. Momma closed her eyes and rocked a bit. "Momma I need to know. There's another woman who may still be alive. Please, think, a child alone and frightened. I can help her." Nika felt guilty for using Momma's weakness against her. The rocking only intensified. Finally Momma calmed down.

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you. If only so you can bring home that poor child. If she was a child, I'd tell you to bring her here to Momma's house.

So the poor girl dead is Anita Clarke. She made a so-so living reading fortunes. Much like I hear you doing off and on. She wasn't as good as you though. Not exactly her power. She was a Siren. So she could sing you your death. I suppose maybe that's what she did.

She came to me for advice on this. I never turn away a child needing help. I find out that she is also in this gang of Otherkin. Hah, you young ones call each other Undergrounders. So silly.

Anyways, I try to tell her to get of this bad group of Otherkin. They don't have her best interest at heart. She ran drugs for them for quick cash. I told her, I told her that she would be dead. But she didn't listen to me." Momma said slowly, as if deliberating what to tell Nika. "Now you ask me if I know these marks? Oh I know these marks. I know what they say. It's trouble, that's what it says. And I say to let it go Nika."

"Momma I can't. You know that." Nika objected. "What gang did she get involved with?"

"They call themselves Lazerites. Bad group of people. Went into hiding about thirty years ago or so." Momma said quickly, rolling her eyes. "Bunch of cowards I always said."

"Momma, I'm going to show you a picture of the other missing girl. Please tell me if you know her." Nika slid another photo towards her.

"No child. I don't know her." Momma said quietly. "Now promise me this, once you find her, leave the rest alone. Better to let old dogs sleep than wake them up." Momma started shaking again. But Nika knew that she couldn't pry any more information out of the old woman. She let it go. Momma gave her a lot to work with.

**Chapter Five**

The next morning Nika called Jacob. He agreed to meet up at the donut shop in town. Nika drove there in her beat up Honda. She gave herself a chuckle. The reason Jacob chose the donut shop was because of the stigma on cops. That and he was a plains clothes detective. So it became an inside joke with him.

The donut shop was nothing fancy. It had big windows out front to advertise the freshly made donuts of the day. Inside had a few tables on hard, concrete tiles. Not a very welcoming place, but the location made up for it. It was just a couple blocks from the precinct.

"Wow, that's a lot to go on." Jacob stated as soon as Nika was done catching him up on what happened. "Firstly, I agree with Momma about Magnus. The slick bastard got away with some shady shit recently." He gave Nika a cold stare. His eyes looked light because of the blue shirt he was wearing. His cowboy hat was resting on a knee.

"Can we stop focusing on Magnus?" Nika snapped, irritated. "Momma said that Anita was in a gang. Maybe this is gang violence? Ever heard of the Lazerites?"

"Can't say that I have." Jacob said between bites of his glazed donut. "But if what Momma said is true, then no I wouldn't have. Although I can ask around the precinct and see if any of the old times heard of that gang."

"What about our victim? Got anything definitive about our killer?" Nika asked.

"Actually was just going to say. We did get a partial print. It was sent to the lab for analysis. And there was some of the perp's seaman on her leg. So I'd say any time now." Jacob was almost giddy with excitement. "Oh and the Captain wants to give you your old job back."

Nika smiled at this. She knew that this was going to happen. Everyone there loved her. "Tell Old Tight Ass the offer is denied. I don't want to go back."

"Is this because of Janie?" Jacob asked.

"No, my own reasons." Nika got up and looked out the window. "You go ahead and ask around the precinct. I think I can look around myself. There's this other club, called Nightress, it's in Meadows. Anyways, you think Magnus is bad, this place harbors the shady Undergrounders. I'll go there and see what I can dig up." With that, Nika was out the door.

She should have been just as excited as Jacob for the evidence that was collected, but she was not. When Otherkin were involved, it never went as smoothly as one would hope. With the Wyrd marks, and what they said meant that it was heavily Otherkin influenced.

Nika drove to Meadows, a bigger city than Harmony. It had more of everything than Harmony. Clubs around the city attracted a bigger crowd. Nika hated bigger, preferred to stay by herself.

She put her car in park outside of Nightress. It was almost exclusively an Undergrounder place. Humans wasn't strictly banned, but they were heavily discouraged. The few that were there, had dealings with the Undergrounders that were best suited to stay in the shadows.

She walked into the club, heavy club music playing. Strippers were dancing on poles, entertaining the odd gawker. Smoke filled the air. And every where was an Undergrounder.

Nika felt a little foolish for rushing over here. She was out of her element. How was she supposed to find what she was looking for?

"Now darling, I think you are starting to like me." Magnus' voice slid into her ear. "That or you're following me." Nika turned to Magnus, relieved that he was there. He looked a bit concerned.

"Magnus, thank the gods!" Nika exclaimed.

"Why are you here?" He asked, looking over the crowd almost lazily.

"I was trying to see if anyone knew about the Lazerites." Magnus rushed her over to a dark corner booth with a sharp breath.

"So I take it you talked to Momma?" Magnus hissed in her ear. "What I can surmise is that she didn't warn you? Don't ever say that name out loud. That is, if you don't want to attract a certain type of attention."

"You know the gang?" Nika asked. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Yes of course I know of them, child." Magnus snapped. "But that's about it. Although I think they are the reason we're both here."

"Magnus, is this your new plaything?" A stripper came over with a drink in hand acting pouty. She was a Felinx. A feline Otherkin. Her eyes were like that of a cats, and she had whiskers too. A long tail extended out of her tight mini skirt.

"Candy, you know that I would never hurt your feelings." Magnus said. "But please, this isn't for pleasure. Although if Nika was so inclined, all of us could make it about pleasure."

"Save it Magnus, I'm working." Nika answered. Although the Felinx was cute, Nika had to keep a cool head on her shoulders.

"Ah, maybe another time then." Magnus smiled at her. The stripper, Candy pouted away. That's the best Nika could describe that anyways.

"Now girl, you need to get gone from here." Magnus snapped at Nika. " How about this, if I hear of anything, I'll let you know. Safer for you anyways."

"What are you and Momma so scared of with this gang and my safety for?" Nika asked.

"Another time. Now leave." Magnus' eyes flashed. Nika got up and left. As she was walking out the door, she accidently ran into a strange man. He had brown hair, close cropped and brown eyes. He looked almost human, except his skin glowed a little bit.

"Ah I couldn't help but over hear you asking about the Lazerites?" He bent close and asked. Nika's eyes flashed.

"Yes!" Nika answered without thinking. He gave her a cool smile.

"Here, take this and meet me at the time on the back. The Lazerites are here to help our fellow Undergrounders. Whatever their problem." He slid her a card and disappeared into the shadows.

Nika's eyes flashed over to Magnus. Candy was back, and it seemed like she was trying to convince him of something pleasant and fun. He was laughing easily with her.

_Sorry Magnus, but you and Momma aren't really a help. I think I can find out more about this gang by myself._ She thought as she pocketed the card and left. The date and time was tomorrow night at midnight.


End file.
